Keywords and User Defined Fields

We are often asked what the differences are between Keywords and User Defined Fields. In a nutshell:

User Defined Fields:

Act as a "response" to the field name

Are used to track details about the Contact

Keywords:

Are pre-defined selections.

Are used to group similar Contacts

We recommend that User Defined Fields be used for values that are unique to each Contact while Keywords should be used to group various Contacts together, as Keywords will be exactly the same in each case since you must select from your predefined list of Keywords (to which you can add at any time.) Because this can be confusing, let's break it down just a little further.

UDFs are similar to Keywords, but they do offer some advantages not available with Keywords. They are similar to Keywords in that the UDF itself is likely to apply to a large number of your clients. What distinguishes them from Keywords is that you aren't simply assigning the Keyword (e.g. Golf) to a client. UDFs are fields that also allow you to assign individualized Field Values to each client. So, you might create a UDF called Favorite Golf Course - you can then assign individual field values (e.g. Pine Valley Golf Club, etc.) to each of your clients that have Golf as a Keyword and Favorite Golf Course as a UDF.

Additional Information about Keywords

The Keywords section is intended to provide you with a way to quickly view key ideas you want to associate with a contact.

There are no standard Keywords in your database by default.

To add or delete a Keyword for a contact, click Add in the header bar of their Keywords section.

You'd then see the below:

Here, you can place a check in the radio box(es) for any available Keywords that you want to add for the contact. Those already attached to their record are checked off and highlighted in blue. You can use the "Search Keywords" box to search for Keywords in your database to apply to the contact, or to create a new Keyword to apply to them.

Additional Information about User Defined Fields

The User Defined Fields section is intended to provide you with a way to track information you deem important that isn't represented by any existing fields within your CRM.

To edit or delete a User Defined Field previously assigned to a contact, you can click the Options icon to its left and choose the applicable option:

To add a new User Defined Field to a contact record, click Add in the header of the contact's UDF section:

You can then choose from your database's UDFs and select or type in a value for the field, dependent upon the UDF Type.

If you want to add a new User Defined Field for this contact that you haven't previously used, you will first need to create that User Defined Field under Manage Your Account —> Manage Database Lists. It will then be available the next time you enter a Contact Record to make edits in this section.